Saturday, December 9, 2023

Christmas and Sundry

Yesterday was John's office Christmas party. 

We exchanged "white elephant" gifts. John definitely got the epitome of a white elephant gift. It got the most laughs anyway, but I noticed no one else wanted to "steal" it when they had the opportunity! Later I coaxed him to try it on to see if it would fit.

It fits :-)
In case you're wondering, the little Christmas lights on the glasses don't light up. 

It was fun to see people I haven't seen for a while. I was encouraged when one lady, Ann Bush, said that she enjoyed reading my blog posts while we were in Australia. I apologized for not finishing them yet. She said, "it doesn't matter!"

I appreciate her non-perfectionistic attitude. 


John chatting with one of his bosses, Michael Cochran


Before the gift exchange, Michael shared some thoughts on Christmas and invited others to share thoughts too. 

John shared thoughts on how scripture says that Jesus is the image of God.*

For thousands of years God taught his people, the Jews, not to worship graven images-- objects that they had made. No man made object could ever embody God's essence. 

But when Jesus came he could and did fully embody and represent God. He is the true image of God that we can and must worship.

In some mysterious way even coming as a baby was an important part of representing God's image. He wasn't plunked down fully grown. He was a living breathing growing fully human and fully God, four- dimensional image (three dimensions plus time.) It's like God thought that a sinless human life lived perfectly from beginning to end while facing the worst that people can throw at him was the best way for God to show us what he is like.

As an adult Jesus showed God's love and power by his sinless life and amazingly loving-miracle-working-ministry, and then ultimately by willingly dying a completely unjust and brutal death on the cross. But he didn't stay dead. He demonstrated God's power by defeating death and rising from the dead.

He did all that because he loves us and wants us to have a relationship with him and be with him for eternity.  

*"Christ is the visible image of the invisible God." Colossians 1:15 (NLT) The Amplified Translation reads: "He is the exact living image [the essential manifestation] of the unseen God [the visible representation of the invisible]," 

"The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being." Hebrews 1:3 (NIV) The KJV reads "the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person."


Here are a couple of group photos after the white elephant exchange: 



Last week we put up our Christmas decorations at our house.  




We also put a couple of strands of colored lights on our red bud tree outside. They're LED lights we already had. I don't like LED lights on the tree indoors but they look well enough outside. 

John untangling one of the strands.

I know it's not the whole tree, but I'm practicing im-perfectionism.

John also put up some new white lights part way around the patio. We've had white lights around the patio year round for several years but they were only about half working and had partly fallen down. So now the new ones look much better. He used bulldog clips to attach them to the vinyl siding on the eaves. Hopefully the clips won't rust. They hold the lights much better than the paper-clips we used before. We sometimes like to sit outside in the evening when it's warmer until the mosquitoes drive us, especially John, indoors. The white lights give a nice gentle glow.
 

Here's a photo of our visit with my Mom on Thanksgiving Day. My last post about Thanksgiving was a couple of days before the holiday.  So here's a photo from the day itself. My brother, Paul, came down to our house and we three went and visited my Mom at her assisted living facility.  




Wednesday, November 22, 2023

Thanksgiving Day and Giving Thanks

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day.

Yesterday afternoon I got the stuffing most of the way done. Now all I have to do in the morning is combine the toasted bread cubes with the sautéed onion, celery, spices and apple (I’m trying apple this time instead of adding a lot of other things. I got the idea from my Mom’s old Betty Crocker cookbook.). Then I'll add the chicken broth and put it in the bird. Yes, we cook our stuffing inside the turkey. It's so much tastier that way. Don't worry we're careful. And we've never gotten food poisoning from it. I figure my Mom cooked it that way when I was a kid and we all survived. 

Anyway, today I hope to make the desert. I am tossing up whether to make peach cobbler and pumpkin pie or just the cobbler. I don't think I have energy for both. I have to make everything from scratch because of my dietary restrictions (gluten, dairy, tree nut and coconut free). I'm also having foot pain and a fibromyalgia flare and sinus headache and congestion from--hopefully-- just allergies. And after spending so much time on my feet yesterday I need to pace myself today. My foot is still recovering from when I (re)injured it during our last few days in Tasmania. (I'll try to cover that next time) 

So basically, I feel like a mess. 

Yesterday I picked up an old journal of mine from 2010. At the top of the first page, dated Sept 17, was Psalm 50:23, "He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me, and he prepares the way so that I may show him the salvation of God." It seemed apropos given Thanksgiving is this week.

In the journal entry I wrote, "I have not felt very thankful about these problems [family crisis, care-giver stress and dental problems]. But I have some of the time tried to give thanks for stuff anyway. I like to think that sacrificing thank offerings is like that. It's easy to give thanks when everything is great. But when stuff is hard it's hard. It costs something emotionally and mentally.....Maybe that's why God gave that promise..."

I just now looked at the previous journal to get more context and was amazed by how much it illustrated the truth of the promise that giving thanks even in hard times can help. Two days before this entry I got an infected tooth extracted. This is what I said about it:

“Today I climbed ‘my Mt Everest’” Got my tooth pulled with just local anesthetic (& a little nitrous oxide for good measure.)

The Guide Post’s devotional for today talked about how the people in our life can help us do difficult things. The verse was ‘two are better than one.’ The author told how his neighbors helped him keep going on his morning run even up the hill that always seemed too hard.

I thought of that today as I waited to get the tooth pulled. Thought of my friends who had gotten teeth pulled with just local and lived to tell about it.

I thought of RC and S and R’s mom and T and J. I didn’t like hearing some of what they said about it Monday night at small group but it helped to think about it—their courage and survival 😉

So, I survived too. Thank you, God. It also helped that the Dr’s office staff played KLTY [Christian station]. One of the songs was really encouraging. I don’t know the name, but some of the words are ‘Jesus Messiah, name above all names, rescue for sinners, Emanuel…’ 

It also helped to think of Jesus going to the cross, and enduring the agony. 

I was struggling with anger with God and how hard stuff has been for me lately. Started to sink into self-pity, but God helped me turn it around by thinking about Jesus – he had it way harder than I did and also remembering my friends who have gone through the hard thing of losing a tooth or two. 

Then too I chose to remind myself and declare God’s goodness and to thank him for stuff – like Novocain, and friends to give me rides, and a Christian doctor who plays Christian music. And that helped.

I did feel an amazing amount of peace while I waited for them to get info from my insurance company. It was like John prayed—God was my valium!

It also helped to keep reminding myself that I would be rid of all that infection. Like how Jesus endured [the cross] for the joy set before Him.”

I know, I know I’m a wimp to have been so worried about a tooth extraction. Lots of my friends have endured worse! Since then, I have lost two more teeth and it was not fun those times either (and I got more than novocaine!). But the point is that thankfulness and trusting in God even when it is hard really can help. 

Just to clarify: At the time of those journal entries we were in crisis mode. In addition to my major tooth pain and problems we were caring for my Mom who had just moved in with us and had a lot of care needs. Caring for her complex issues was really wearing me down. She was so unwell that we didn’t expect her to live much longer. 

It is now 13 years later and she is still living, though not with us. She needs more care (and lifting) than we can cope with so she lives in an assisted living home. We will visit her tomorrow. 

God has brought me through so much and I know he will continue to be with me no matter what. I am thankful. 


Tuesday, November 14, 2023

Aussie Pilg 12 - Hobart goodbyes and on to Launceston

We arrived back in Dallas about three weeks ago. I think I'm adjusted to the time difference now. It's a whopping 17 hours different. As I write this it is 11:35 a.m. Monday morning here in Dallas but is 4:35 a.m. Tuesday morning in Melbourne, Australia.

The seasons are also different. It's Spring in Australia. But it's Fall here. It's been a bit of an unpleasant shock. Our first week back there was a cold snap here and it got down near freezing. It made sitting outside in the morning for an hour before noon to adjust to the time difference much more challenging. Of course to have an hour to sit outside before noon I had to actually get outside by 11:00 a.m. which didn't happen most mornings which was not the fault of the weather.

Anyway I seem to be adjusted now.

I'm also enjoying the fall colors. I was glad to see that the leaves waited to change color until after we got back. 

Our first morning back. Wearing John's big coat. I didn't stay outside very long that morning.

Our baby maple tree. I was glad to see that the leaves had not changed when we first got back.

Some of our garden died back during the broiling hot summer while we were away. It will be interesting to see how many plants come back next Spring.


Some of them need to be pruned back.
But we have had other priorities.


I went for a walk near the library after voting last Tuesday morning. I was delighted to see the leaves were starting to get their fall color. 



Our baby maple tree this morning. The leaves look prettier up close.










I'm glad I did not trim this bushy plant back yet. It is crowding the salvia and everything else around it. But the yellow flowers are cheering to see.

In addition to unpacking and trying to adjust to the time difference my main focus for the first week was to prepare documents to send to the Veterans Administration about my Mom's finances. I am her fiduciary and they periodically check up on things to make sure I am doing a good job. It was a little stressful. Hopefully I gave them what they wanted despite their instructions not being completely clear.* (John and I each had different ways of interpreting their directions.) Now that that is done and sent off I have no more excuses to put off writing about our final weeks in Australia.

My previous post about our first week in Tasmania ended on Saturday after the first WOW Missions Conference. Picking up from there, our next day was, of course, Sunday. John spoke at the church where our hosts, Phil and Elizabeth Prebble, attend in Midway Point, near Hobart. 


John at the podium. The floral wall decoration behind him caught my eye. See photo below.

It really is three dimensional--in real life that is ;-)-- and appears to be made of paper. I don't know who made it. I meant to ask. But I don't think I did.  

Prebbles took us out to lunch after church. Then in the afternoon we went to see Goat Bluff overlook and beach that Elizabeth recommended. It was beautiful though I felt a kind of sad knowing that it was our last afternoon in Hobart. 























Seeing this double rainbow on our way home was exciting.
I'm still just a kid at heart.


It was hard to say goodbye to Prebbles--especially Elizabeth. I really enjoyed getting better acquainted with her (and Phil too) during our time staying with them. I hope it won't be as long before we see them again--or our other Aussie friends--as it was since the previous time! 


Our next destination was Launceston, Tasmania. On our way out of town we took a little "detour" so John could meet with a young man who is interested in possibly doing computer programming work for Wycliffe. He and John had a good meeting and we all had a delicious lunch thanks to the kind family who were hosting the meeting.
 
Our trip to Launceston was enlivened by seeing "Shadows of the Past" sculptures along the way. There are 16 in all between Tunbridge and Kempton. These ones are near the southern end in Kempton.  


Notice the little girl patting the horses head at the front.


In this one the little girl is sitting inside the carriage. 
It's funny, I didn't notice those details until now as I write this. But the first thing I did when I walked up to the horse sculpture was to pat it on the nose. I thought John took a photo of that. But I can't find it now so guess he didn't.    



Not a great photo but you get the idea!


I was planning to make this post cover our whole final two weeks in Australia. But it is getting so long that I think this is a good place to stop for now. I hope to finish the rest soon, hopefully before Christmas! 

I finally put my Fall wreath up on our front door last night. 

*Post Script: I heard from the Veteran's Administration after I published this and they accepted the documents I sent so I don't need to do anything more. I'm so thankful!

Friday, October 20, 2023

Aussie Pilg Part 11 - Tasmania - Week One

I'm currently writing this from Launceston, Tasmania. It's hard to believe our time in Tasmania is nearly up. Tomorrow will be two weeks since we landed in Hobart and in a few days we'll be flying back to Melbourne and then a week later back to Dallas.  

Our first week in Tasmania was busy.  (For my non-Australian readers: Tasmania is an island state of Australia. It's shaped a little like an arrowhead and is 240 km (150 miles) south of the state of Victoria. 

The night before our flight to Hobart we stayed at a motel near the airport. On the way there we had tea (dinner) with Tim and Sophie, John's nephew and his wife. It was delightful to finally have a chance to visit them after all these months!

Tim, Sophie, me and John


Our first week was in Hobart, the capital of Tasmania, which is close to the southern tip of the 'arrowhead'.

We stayed with, Phil and Elizabeth Prebble. They deserve a medal for putting us up considering that their daughter's wedding was only a week away and they were heavily involved in organizing the upcoming missions conference that we were to take part in as well as the other ministries they help run at their church. But despite all their busy-ness we had a lovely time. They are a lot of fun and very hospitable. It was great to get better acquainted with them. 

Me, Elizabeth, Phil and John

The first Sunday John gave a presentation at Hope Christian Centre.



Before his presentation to the adults we visited the children's class to give them a special gift to thank them for their support. For some time they have had a project to raise money for our work with Wycliffe. They raised around $900! As a thank-you John created a book for them using the Bloom computer program that he works on. The book has photos of of them and tells something that they like to do. We got the photos and info from one of their teachers, Alison Ferguson. The kids were delighted with the books.

Here they were playing a funny quiz game at the beginning.




Group photo with their special books. Some of the kids have their book open to their photo. A couple of them are showing the front which has a collage of all their faces. The adults in the back are from left to right: Alison, me (Sharon), John, and Jill Norton, the children's Bible teacher.

After church we had morning tea and then lunch for those that could stay. It was a good time to visit with various ones.


Alison Ferguson and me




One of John's Mum's cousins, Gail, introduced herself. She told me that Mum was always a great favorite with her and their other young cousins when they were children.

The rest of the week was busy. In addition to several meetings with various groups and individuals, I spent a lot of time preparing a devotional talk to share on Thursday with a group of ladies at Elizabeth's church.  

Monday 

Monday we had afternoon tea with John's uncle, John Elmer.


A visit would not be complete without admiring the view and watching boats crossing the River Derwent.
John with Uncle John out on the balcony.

Tuesday evening John led a Bible study via zoom for the Prebbles' church. John zoomed from the dining room and Elizabeth, Phil and I joined in from their office.




Wednesday I was flat out working on devo prep. In the evening we had dinner and a small group presentation at David and Alison Ferguson's house. I thought I got some photos of that but I can't find them at the moment. But I did discover photos of a walk we took earlier in the day.

View of River Derwent from Prebbles' street. 



Gorgeous flower garden a few blocks down the steep hill from Prebbles' house.



Same flower garden from a different angle.



Outside on Prebbles' balcony. You guessed it, it's the River Derwent again.

Thursday was the day for sharing my devotional with the ladies. I focused on Jesus's promise to give his disciples peace. He told them, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."(John 14:27 NIV) It was the night of his crucifixion. He wanted to prepare them for the difficult hours and days that were ahead. He wanted them to have the kind of peace "that passes understanding." It's not based on circumstances but is instead based on Him and his promises. We too can have that same peace. First we have to trust in Him as our Lord and Savior and then we need to hang on to his Word even when times are tough.



Before the devo we had morning tea. At the end we filled Samaritan's Purse Christmas shoeboxes. 

Several of the other ladies helped as well but had to leave earlier so we didn't get them in this photo. Left to right is Irene, Sharon, John and Elizabeth 

Elizabeth Prebble and me

Afterward we went to lunch with both Prebbles and Irene. Then had afternoon tea with an elderly man named John Ferguson. He and my John are third cousins or something. John F is the one who arranged most of our meetings in Tasmania. He was hoping to hold a meeting at his house too but became unwell so it was moved to his son David's house. When we got to John's house for afternoon tea we were pleasantly surprised to find David and Alison there too. John F's daughter, Janette, was staying with her dad to help out while he was recuperating.

The two tall men in back are l-r: David and John Ferguson. The three ladies in the middle are myself, John F's daughter Janette, and David's wife Alison Ferguson. My husband, John, is sort of squatting down in front. I've noticed it's easier to get smiles from everyone in group selfies because everyone ends up laughing about how awkward it is to take them.

Friday I got to go with Elizabeth to a meeting of her ladies Bible study group. We met at a coffee shop as it is school holidays so they were taking the time off from their regular study. It was a fun time to just hang out with the ladies.

John also worked on computer programming and preparing for his presentation for the WOW missions conference. WOW stands for Windows on the World. 

Saturday was the WOW conference. It was held at Hope Christian Centre where John spoke on the previous Sunday. There were several other missionaries who also gave presentations. It was inspiring to hear what is happening in other parts of the world. I was especially encouraged to hear from another Wycliffe member who told how her Bible translation in (a restricted area) has been received. The last time we saw her a number of years ago she was having a difficult time and feeling some discouragement. So it was great to hear how things have improved and that the translation is finished and has been well received even by some of those who were opposed to it at first.

I'm surprised that I didn't take many photos that day. Partly I suppose because I was tired and distracted by all that was happening and partly because I accidentally left my preferred cell phone in the car for part of the day. 




We saw this beautiful rainbow when we went for a walk after the conference with a lady whose name, I think, was Christine. 


Christine (?) and me

We went out for dinner with several of the other speakers and organizers from the conference. But alas I forgot to take any photos.

It's now almost a week later and tomorrow will be another missions conference, this time in the northern part of Tasmania. Many of the speakers will be the same. I'll try to do a better job taking photos. But considering how tired I am I can't promise.

This week we're staying in Launceston, Tasmania. We arrived Monday. I'll tell more about that in my next post, Lord willing.